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Standards

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notes from Encanto: A Tale of Three Sisters

Isabela is jealous that Mirabel isn’t burdened by a gift and can do whatever she wants 

would offer her help but thinks that she would snap at her because she ‘always wants stuff done her own way’ 

sometimes wishes her gift was more helpful like her mother’s

 when she makes a mistake she pushes it onto Mirabel because she recognizes that she isn’t allowed to make a mistake but Mirabel is 

she made Mirabel a little daisy necklace before her ceremony 

she’s nervous around Abuela

“Abuela’s stern voice disrupts the quiet of the courtyard. I’m not sure where she came from but she is standing over Mirabel, watching her do her project. That would make me so nervous.”

Luisa thinks that she’s ‘not supposed to get tired or worn out’ and hopes Abuela doesn’t notice when she does

everyone loves her hugs because she’s strong and she really wants a hug

Isabela made her a flower crown on her ceremony day

Mirabel decorated the nursery’s ceiling with pictures representing family members

Pepa = rainbows, Isabela = flowers, Luisa = boulders, Julieta = arroz con pollo

“I watch Abuela smile at her daughters and her grandchildren. Why doesn’t she smile at me like that?”

apparently they can feel Casita ‘smiling with pride’

“I’m not sure what to do. I want to comfort her because that’s my duty as the oldest sister, but I don’t want Abuela to be angry with me, too.” 

Luisa’s room is a gym

“I don’t remember the family having that much fun on my gift day. Mostly everyone wanted to watch me do tricks with my brand new strength. You know –lifting heavy things, moving houses and churches, digging deep holes. Honestly, I felt a little like a performer at a circus. I still do, actually.”

she has the slightest bit of repressed anger/irritation

Mirabel thinks everything comes easily to Luisa and is irritated that she does everything everyone asks of her except what Mirabel asks

Luisa never cries, gets tired, or takes naps

Isabela feels like Mirabel is lucky for not being responsible for anything

she thinks Mirabel is Agustín’s favorite child, and that she needs to try harder for him to like her

she envies Mirabel because she doesn’t need to care about what others think of her  

Félix and Agustín are good friends

parallels between Bruno’s room in the walls and Mirabel’s nursery room

Luisa doesn’t believe that Mirabel disturbed Antonio’s gift ceremony on purpose

isn’t emotionally strong and will cry when yelled at, and is impressed that Mirabel can stand up to Abuela

“I back up into the shadows a bit. Just because I’m strong– I used to be strong (don’t cry, don’t cry) –doesn’t mean my grandmother doesn’t frighten me a little, especially when she’s mad.”

Luisa has a panic attack during the final confrontation between Mirabel and Abuela Alma when the house is crumbling down

“I knew it. I knew it was my fault. Why can’t I be everywhere at once?”

she’s afraid of the dark

Abuela thinks Mirabel is similar to Pedro

Bruno’s ostarization from the family was the beginning of the cracks

before Casita was destroyed, Isabela refused hugs

Dolores becomes much more talkative after the destruction of Casita

the doors become representative of the family members’ entire personalities, instead of just their gifts

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I saw a tag in an AO3 Mirabruno fic that said Mirabel and Bruno are coded as a couple, and this was definitely a thought I also had during my first watch of the movie. Especially considering that in an animated film, any potential chemistry between actors is not going to play a huge role in what’s happening on screen. Rather, any chemistry between characters is going to be due to the choices animators and writers made, which is fun to think about. So I thought I’d try my hand at analyzing what I think so many of us were picking up on.

Now I’m not saying all of these points support romantic coding alone, but I think when put together, we get something significant between Mirabel and Bruno. I would love to hear any possible additions or elaborations to this that I might be missing.

**use the numbered points as the TLDR**

1. Bruno estranged himself from his family to protect Mirabel.

There is a lot to be said about this move. On one hand, Bruno was motivated to do this because he had already developed a bad reputation amongst his family and the townsfolk that his prophecies were bad news and that he was somehow playing a role in them. It can probably be argued for this reason alone, he left to protect himself. But he was also protecting Mirabel because he knew that with this prophecy, she would be dragged down with him. When Mirabel meets/confronts him in Casita’s walls, Bruno says, “no one was supposed to see that prophecy.” Considering how superstitious/paranoid Bruno appears (to the point of probably meeting OCD criteria), I think it is a fair assumption that at some point, Bruno started internalizing that maybe just maybe he was part of the problem and was to blame for the outcomes of some of his prophecies. So, in addition to protecting Mirabel from his mother’s wrath, I think Bruno may also have been trying to protect her from some doomed fate he might have thought he brought upon her. I think his logic was, if no one else sees the prophecy, maybe it cannot come true. I got on a little tangent there, but ultimately, while I think Bruno had a couple motivators for leaving the family after making the prophecy about Mirabel, it seems the main motivator was to protect Mirabel. While not inherently romantic, it is definitely a decision with a lot of love behind it. 

2. They defend each other to the family matriarch.

In the final act of the film, both Mirabel and Bruno defend each other to Alma. While Mirabel is defending herself and her sisters against her abuela’s impossible standards, she also leaps to Bruno’s defense, stating that Alma always saw “the worst” in Bruno and that Bruno does in fact love the family.

Likewise, Bruno literally rides on a horse to Mirabel’s rescue to defend her against any wrath Alma may have against her. This is especially important when considering that Bruno previously expressed to Mirabel that he was afraid of facing Alma. In this scene, he shows he is willing to overcome this fear to once again protect Mirabel. He literally tells his mother, “I don’t care what you do to me.” I think the fact that he is riding on a horse just adds to the coding of a knight in shining armor rescuing his damsel in distress, even if Mirabel is perfectly capable of managing conflict.

3. Bruno comes across as younger than his age.

Bruno holds himself in a smaller posture. He appears shorter than his sisters. And frankly, he seems timid and unsure of himself. He often uses more informal language and catches himself and tries to use more formal language, and I think it’s to appear more mature than he feels he is. It doesn’t help that all of the Madrigal adults look much younger for their age, and he’s no exception. Now, I am going to refrain from going into why he may seem younger than his sisters (despite the graying hair). The point here is that Bruno acting and looking younger created a weird dissonance in my mind. On one hand, I knew he was Mirabel’s uncle and was the same age as her mother. On the other hand, his portrayed youth makes it a little easier to interpret their interactions as a little more romantic than familial. Because honestly, if the plot was just a little different and Bruno was just some seer that Mirabel was seeking out, then a lot of their interactions would read as very shippable to me. I’m sorry I cannot elaborate this more eloquently.

4. “After you save the miracle, come visit.” “After I save the miracle, I’m bringing you home.”

No elaboration for this. Just the way they look at each other during this exchange:

5. Bruno is canonically interested in incest romances.

Ok. I know this has been a central point of discourse between us and antis, but I want to look at this within the context of the narrative. Which is to say, Bruno talking about an aunt/nephew romance plot comes across as a foreshadow when considering the fact that 1) it can be assumed Bruno came up with this plot by himself and enjoys it, 2) Bruno started talking about this plot basically unprompted to his niece who he hasn’t seen in a decade, and 3) this was right after he had saved said niece from what he had assumed was death. I think having one of the characters in a shipcest pairing being canonically interested in incest already gives us a lot of shipcest fuel, but more than that, Bruno’s interest in incest and how it is introduced within the narrative very easily reads as a foreshadow in the first viewing of the movie.

6. Bruno is starved for affection and love, while Mirabel is starved for respect.

I think this is what ultimately colors everything between these two as potentially romantic. Bruno has been isolated for ten years, so any positive regard and affection to him is going to be so meaningful. We can see it on his face when Mirabel is reassuring him that she doesn’t think he makes bad things happen and that he just got a bad rap. We can see it in countless other scenes of Bruno receiving affection from other characters in the movie. He is shocked and very clearly doesn’t know what to do with it:

Likewise, Mirabel rarely receives respect from the adults and even children of the family. Tía Pepe and Isabela tend to be annoyed with Mirabel at baseline. Abuela Alma at her kindest is still shutting down Mirabel and telling Mirabel she has very little value to offer the family. Meanwhile, her parents sometimes accidentally support Alma’s opinion of Mirabel in their reassurances that she has “nothing” to prove. From their first interaction, Bruno listens to Mirabel and talks to her like an equal, like an autonomous adult who matters. As the two work together, Bruno continues to demonstrate that he respects Mirabel. He doesn’t talk down to her, and he apologizes for raising his voice at her when she was spiraling about hugging Isabella to save the miracle and reemphasizes her autonomy (“it’s up to you”):

Ultimately, these two unconditionally offer each other what they are both craving—what they each never properly received from the rest of the family—and this is a trope often used in a romantic narrative. Not to mention, they can also relate to each other; they are both misfits and both feel incredibly displaced from the rest of the family. Add to the fact that the two treat each other more like equals and less like uncle/niece, and suddenly, the couple coding seems more evident.

7. The blocking and imagery choices.

Honestly, most of the ship vibes I saw came from a lot of the blocking/imagery choices the animators made, so I’m just going to have to include some screenshots of the most damning ones because I don’t know how to make gifs. They are as follows.

The concern/desperation in Bruno’s eyes when he saves Mirabel from falling:

All the hand holding during the prophecy scene:

This scene in which we see a lot of mirroring between the two, supporting the idea that they see each other as equals:

This scene in which her parents are singing, “and to watch our little girl grow.” Of all the things to pan to in order to demonstrate that Mirabel is growing up, they chose to show her interacting with Bruno. It’s an interesting choice to me:

And then, of course, the last minute or so of the movie where we get a lot of mirabruno eye contact and shared smiles:

And Casita literally brings them together into a pseudo-dance:

Then there is the family picture. The way Bruno is holding/touching Mirabel does not come across as a typical uncle/niece interaction. Look at them. Regardless of the nature of their relationship, there is a high level of physical intimacy shown here:

And of course, the end credits silhouette:

So there you have it. These are the biggest reasons why I think these two are coded as a couple, but I’m sure there are many more that I’m not thinking of. I love these two so much, and I would love to hear other thoughts in support of their coding as a couple.

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Madrigal triplets

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Teen Madrigal Triplets⏳☀️🫓

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i made a mirabruno edit <3 you can watch it on youtube too (will upload it later tho)

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I couldn't help but do it. This scene is full of villainous atmosphere. Thank you Camilo

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Raya debuts at Shanghai Disney Resort

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This found family moment is so soft. There’s Raya stepping in, acting like an eldest sibling to help out. Raya offers to play hide and seek with baby Noi and the ongis.

We honestly deserved more soft found family moments like this one

Then Raya just stalls them to give more peaceful time by counting slowly lmao 😂  

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so ive read the novelization of raya and the last dragon and here’s my thoughts on it. i’m doing two separate posts on this since there’s a lot to talk about

the book confirms that yes, raya and namaari are 12 years old when they first met. so they’re 18 years old after that six years time frame 

raya and namaari fell in love at first sight

there’s parts that bring a little more depth to raya and namaari’s scenes, getting to know more of their thoughts. like this one. “she decided she liked the princess” that’s so gay, raya

best friend? pfft. theres nothing very “best friend” about raya and namaari calling each other dep la and you cant convince me otherwise

raya ���😢

there’s some differences from the film like it’s “fang’s ancient manuscript” rather than “fang’s dragon scroll”. 

still very sapphic though. “oh, is that why you’re chasing me? and here i thought it was because you missed me”

another scene with a difference from the film, raya dancing. i’d like to see this version animated too

namaari thinking of raya

they got this picture of raya and namaari and “hey there, princess undercut” on the same section of the book? it’s very sapphic all around.

here’s part 2 on my thoughts on the novelization of raya and the last dragon

[rayaforever]

this is part 2 on my thoughts on the novelization of raya and the last dragon

link to part 1

a scene that wasn’t in the final film

This soft moment between Raya and Namaari always just gets me

this one 😭😭 i started to get teary eyed a lot starting from this scene when raya gave her gem shard to namaari. SHE COULD STILL FEEL THE FAINT WARMTH FROM RAYA’S HAND IN IT. IM JUST

when namaari placed her hand on raya’s shoulder  😭

raya and namaari sharing a look and holding hands 😭 the words “former foe”

even if i watched this scene many times already, i still cried 😭😭

so, there’s that.

it felt a little short and the pacing is too quick so i wish there’s also a novelization intended for YA/older audiences and such. i dont mind reading a longer one. anyway, overall i enjoyed reading the novelization of the film

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Made some edits of s1 Catra with short hair! This was surprisingly fun

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thought you all would appreciate this more than instagram did

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cat in a box and love at first sight

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And as I promised - here’s a video post for Crossing the Line, my Catradora animatic! ^^ Slight flashing warning! Please do not download and re-post this video! Sharing the link is okay and loved ;v; 

It’s finally done!!! AHH!!! I have been working on this project basically non-stop for nearly a month and it feels like a dream that its here ahah! I don’t really know what to say about it, except that I love this song and I am so happy that I got to make this video for catradora to it (because it matches them So WELL I mean c'mon.) There are probably some mistakes still in it but hey!! Thank you for watching my video!! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think! :D

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u know he had to do it to em

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mermista 🐟🐚